


Unearthing

by Sinnymin



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Archaeology, Dark One's Dagger, F/M, Modern Day Setting, Rumbelle - Freeform, Slow Burn, dark one rumple, magical artifact
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-02-27 11:56:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2692064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinnymin/pseuds/Sinnymin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle is an archaeologist on on an expedition for an ancient dagger. She doesn’t believe much in the mythology about it, but when she finds it, she awakens the Dark One. </p><p>Rumplestiltsken is awoken by a woman who looks exactly like his long lost love. When other players join the game to possess the dagger, the two must protect each other, or risk losing everything: including their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> So I posted this little dumb idea on tumblr a couple of days ago and it got really popular really quickly and I have no idea why and agggg. All I hope is that you like it because I really want people to enjoy it and if you don't that's cool bro maybe I could write something good for you another time.

The Polar Night had snuffed out all traces of the sun, and there would not be another sunrise for a while. Norway was beautiful, but equally freezing. Dr Belle French stood wrapped up in her coat outside the airport, waiting for her team to finish loading their van. Her face was covered everywhere apart from her eyes, and in her glove-padded hands, she struggled to hold a large book written in Norwegian.

“Have you not prepared enough?”

She looked up from her reading to see her assistant Jefferson Stan approaching. She took her thick snood away from her mouth.

“I have. Of course I have. I’m just double checking everything to make sure.” She said

“What is there left to double check that you didn’t already double check in your office, in the airport on the plane?” he asked. She shoved him playfully. “Look, we’ve got this. You’ve done so much work on this, you’ve made sense of things that nobody else could. You learned Norwegian and you’re pretty good at Old Norse. You found ancient books leading you here. We’ve read the info, consulted locals, planned out your trips through the caves as much as we possibly could-”

“That’s the only thing I’m worried about, Jefferson. What if just information isn’t good enough? What if the caves are just too big or unmapped or dangerous?” she interrupted. “We only have a small idea of where the dagger is by old legends. Nobody’s seen it in hundreds of years.”

“Which is exactly why you’re so interested in the damned thing. The dagger of the Dark One. Spooky.” He drawled, wrapping an arm around her slender shoulders. “We’ll be fine. Soon you’ll have he dagger and we will never have to come back to Norway again.”

“I like Norway!” Belle protested.

“Someone has to.”  
***  
Jetlag meant that sleep didn’t come easily. Belle sat awake in her bed in the house they rented whenever they came to Norway, tucked up in her thick covers and reading from one of the thick books. It was one of the only modern sources on the legends of the Dark One, written by a fellow archaeologist, Dr Mills. She and Dr Mills had been silently competing over discoveries over the topic, and although Regina had been published more than Belle had, Belle still had more information. And now, she would find the dagger first.

The last preparations for the expedition had been done in secret. Normally, she would have told a fellow enthusiastic colleague all about it, and invited them to help. Two heads were better than one, after all. But there was something about Regina’s interest in the dagger that seemed a little…off. Like it wasn’t healthy. Belle knew that she didn’t have much of a right to say anything what with the hours she had spent looking for the dagger, but with Regina it was different. The woman seemed obsessed. She seemed to believe the legends a little too much, and whenever their paths had crossed in the line of work, the woman had seemed almost feverish to get results. Belle knew she was passionate about this, but there was passion, and then there was Regina.

The woman would likely have heard about the trip by now, Belle admitted to herself bitterly. If she knew Regina (and she unfortunately did), the woman would be on her way as soon as she could. Which meant that time was of the essence to get the discovery first.

She herself did not believe much in the legends of the Dark One. He was said to be a mythic, immortal being capable of granting requests for people he deemed worthy…but for a price. Fables and legends told of people getting their deepest desires, only to have their lives crashing down upon them when the price came apparent. Families ripped apart, deaths, desolation. It all came as a part of the legends, although none ever specified if people believed the Dark One himself was instigating these prices, or if it was just the path of fate after the gifts he bestowed.

No, she did not believe. But that did not stop her interest. She was fascinated, although she was not sure why. She had heard the legend on another trip to Norway around 5 years ago as a young student assisting an expedition. Her interest had peaked, and before long, she was researching. It became her field. Ancient mythical artefacts. She kept going to Norway to find more information. She found many books detailing the dagger, the most interesting being the last which had prompted he expedition. 

It was the ruins of an old castle in the mountains. People in the small village varied from saying that it used to be populated by old priests, and some who said that the Dark one himself had lived there. In a crumbling tower, she had found old, leather bound and hand written texts written in an elegant yet harsh hand. But it wasn’t just a simple text: it was a puzzle. Written in old Norwegian, and so needlessly complicated, it became clear that whoever had written it had wanted to hide the dagger well. It had taken her months to solve, with her staying in Norway and coming back to the castle regularly to look for any assistance in the solving of it. She had found the key to deciphering the puzzle in another, more hidden book in another tower. Whoever the priests were, they seemed to believe in the Dark One, and wanted desperately to hide the dagger that would summon him.

Not that she believed them of course. The whole idea of the Dark One was absurd. Interesting and highly detailed, but absurd. She wanted to chronicle it. Get the dagger because it was part of the legend. Not because she believed she could summon a man offering deals.

Not like Regina did.

Belle finally fell asleep at around 3. In four hours’ time, she would awaken. They would ready themselves, and they would finally go in search of the dagger.  
***  
The morning was hard. Belle had reluctantly risen from her warm bed to the cold of Norway. She loved the country but hated the weather. Especially in a Polar Night. The sun still hadn’t risen, and would not for a while. She didn’t know when it would. She had no time to ask. Time was of the essence if she was to beat Regina to the caves. 

The van ratted and shook along the rocky roads. The roads had been smooth up until a couple of miles ago, until they took their van on a turn onto the rural roads going off from the main one. They weren’t maintained very well as not many people went down them. 

“Not too far now, Belle.” Jefferson said to her from the driver’s seat. 

“Thank god for that. These roads are more pothole than road!” Belle replied.

She was sat in the front passenger seat with her maps in her lap and hands. Two students in the back made the four person team. Jefferson kept glancing over to her to see what he was doing.

“We’re going to get this. There’s no doubt in my mind.” He told her.

She just nodded back at him.  
***  
“It will be dark, it will be cold, and there will likely be bats down there. You all probably know that by now, though.” Belle said.

They were suited and booted and ready to go, standing outside the van in the cold. Belle reached up and adjusted the light on Jefferson’s helmet, before patting him on the cheek affectionately. 

“We stick together. No wandering off, report to the group everything you see that could be useful or dangerous. We’re in this together. According to my research, the dagger is in a cave around half way through the system, so we’ll start with that one. We can’t be certain about anything, though so we’ll just have to hope it’s the right one. So, is everyone ready?” 

They all voiced their agreement, and then they were off into the cave.

It was one of the larger ones in the area. Deep and dark, with different sections to it.

“Alright, we’ll start with the left section. Mark off the key intersections, try to memorize the route and stay together.” Belle ordered.

They walked and walked for a very long tie, weaving in and out through the sections of the cave and tracing their way back through the markings they left in brightly coloured chalk on the walls. The lights from their helmets danced along he surfaces of rock, showing huge natural sculptures throughout. The first cave was a bust. But Belle refused to give up so quickly, and so they went into another. They walked for hours until their feet were cold and numb.

“Belle, I know you hate the thought of giving up early, especially with the thought of Regina breathing down our necks, but we have to stop.” Jefferson said.

“What time is it?” She asked.

“Just after 5. We’ve been out here for 9 hours.”

“What, really?” Belle asked, shocked. She turned around and looked at her team properly for the first time in a while. They looked exhausted.

“We stopped for lunch a few hours ago but we’re freezing and starving, Belle. It’s time to go back to the house. But well come back out here first thing tomorrow. We aren’t letting this go.” Jefferson assured her.

“I suppose you’re right.” Belle said. “Let’s just clear this area and we can be done with this cave and start on the next one tomorrow.”

She walked a few steps forward to heck over the rest of the room, when she heard something underfoot. Before she had the time to react, she felt the round crumble beneath her feet, and she was falling down, down, down below into the dark. She heard Sarah shriek from above, and Jefferson and Gareth shouting down at her before she hit the ground on her side with a painful thud.

She didn’t know how long she lay there for, but her daze wore off and she became aware of the boys still shouting down to her.

“Belle! Belle talk to me!” Jefferson shouted. She could hear fear and worry in his voice.

She sat up slowly, wincing. Her side throbbed painfully where she had landed on it, and she tried to move her wrist…broken.

“I think my wrist is broken but other than that, I’m fine!” She called up.

She looked around the area and gasped, rising to her feet as quickly as she could and walking towards a pedestal in the centre of the room.

She picked up the dagger, her eyes raking over the engraved words.

“Jefferson! Jefferson it’s here!” she shouted.

“What? Hold on, Belle, we’re setting up a rope to come and get you!” he replied.

A few minutes later, and Jefferson was being lowered down on a rope. He approached her and started fitting her into the harness.

“Jeff, look! The dagger!” Belle said, showing him.

“You can show me properly when you’re safe. I’m excited, and I’m really happy for you, but you nearly got yourself killed down here. Let’s get above ground and we can celebrate after we’ve taken you to the hospital.” 

“Right-o.” Belle replied.  
***  
The party had died down at around 1am. Belle stood in her room in the house, sporting a new pink cast on her wrist. She nursed a glass of white wine in her good hand and wore a huge smile. She had done it. She had found the dagger of the Dark One. Now all there was left to do was to get it back home. Unfortunately, they had since found out that they would not be able to leave for a while. A snowstorm was rolling in, and with the Polar Night, there would be no sun to melt it. So they were stuck for a while.

She walked over to the desk in her room, where she had placed the case. She opened the metal briefcase to stare at its treasure. Pacing down her glass, she picked up the dagger again.

“One more touch couldn’t hurt…before you’re put behind glass in a museum somewhere.” She said. She ran one of the fingers of her bad arm across the blade.

“Rumplestiltskin…I really do wonder what position people had to be in to call upon you. To believe it all.” She murmured. “It’s like playing Bloody Mary when you’re a kid. What did people do? Just say the words?” She chuckled.

“Rumplestiltskin, I summon you!” She said, her voice joking.

But when a dark purple mist filled the room, she dropped the dagger.

“Who summons me?” a booming voice ran through her quiet room.

A man stood before her. Maybe a man, maybe a myth. His dark, waved hair brushed his jawbone, his skin was grey and slightly scaled looking, and he wore strange leather clothes. His face fell. He looked stunned, and he was looking right at her.

His hands moved to her face, and she was too shocked at what had just happened that she didn’t flinch.

“Elizabeth…” He whispered.

One of his arms shot down and wrapped around her waist, dragging her against him as he kissed the air out of her lungs.


	2. Life Returns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the amazing support! It's amazing and shocking and weird and I don't know what to say other than thanks! I love each and every one of you. Especially you. Yes you, with the computer/phone/thing. You keep doin the thing you do. And enjoy the chapter.

She was being kissed. By someone from myth and legend. Or a joke. Dr French pushed the mystery man away from her, her hands strong and firm on his shoulders, and with only a hint of hesitation. After all, it wasn’t every day you were swept off your feet and kissed like a princess. But that was beside the point.  
“What do you think you’re doing?” She asked him, her voice loud and flustered.

The man paused, his face looking rather confused before he tittered and pulled her to him again, both of his hands around her waist. Belle was thoroughly blushing now, practical joke or not.

“Well, we have plenty of time to catch up on and I wanted to get started straight away.” He said, lowering his head and nipping at her ear before she had time to react.   
She gasped aloud, and squirmed to get away from his arms. He seemed to misinterpret this.

“Oh, you are impatient too? I thought it would be a while before I’d have you writhing around like this, but it seems you’ve missed me as I have missed you.” He said, trying to lower his head to hers again.

“Stop!” She shouted. 

His face fell and his arms dropped to his sides. He remained uncomfortably close, however.

“Whatever is the matter, sweetheart? I’ve just found you again somehow, you can’t expect me not to want to be affectionate with you straight away!” He said, laughing again in that high voice of his. It was unnerving, but what disturbed her more was that at some other level of her, she found his laugh delightful…and stirring, almost.

“What is the matter is that this is too much for a practical joke! Who put you up to this? Jefferson? Dr Mills?” She spluttered.

“I can assure you that my actions are my own. You are behaving very strangely, ear. Are you alright?” He responded.

“Why are you talking to me like that? Like you know me?” She shouted.

“I do know you!” He shouted back. She couldn’t tell if he looked enraged or confused, but it appeared to be a mixture of the two.

“No you don’t! I’ve never seen you before in my life!”

He grabbed her arms and pulled her close, his face a breath away from hers. She must have winced, because his grip on her loosened slightly. He looked into her eyes with an intensity she had never felt before in her life. It felt like he was analysing her from her first breath up until the one she was breathing next to him. His eyes were beautiful. Greenish brown and admittedly very large and almost bug like, but they burned, and she suddenly realised that this wasn’t a joke. They burned for her. The anger and affection and everything he had displayed was for her.

“Who are you?” she asked in a whisper. 

“The question is, dearie,” he purred. “Who are you?”

“I’m…Dr French. Dr Belle French.” She said, ignoring the ball of nervousness forming suddenly in her stomach at his questions.

“Interesting.” He said, letting her go. Somewhere inside her, she was disappointed at the lack of contact all of a sudden. “Then I have an even bigger problem here.”

“You didn’t tell me who you were.” She said, still doubting what she fully believed to be the impossible.

He tittered.

“You summoned me, dearie, you must know. Even though you try to deny it you know the truth. I am Rumplestiltskin at your service.” He said, with a bow.

She gasped aloud, and dropped the dagger she forgot she still held. It clattered to the floor with an audible sound. He frowned.

“I would be more careful with that if I were you, sweetheart.” He said, his tone just shy of warning. 

She swept it up off the floor before finding her voice again.

“That’s impossible. Rumplestiltskin…he’s a myth. A legend. A fairy tale! He isn’t real!”

“I can assure you that I am indeed real, and standing here before you. Which in itself is something that should have been impossible.” 

“Oh Good, this is just a dream. I’ve had too much wine and I’m asleep, this is stupid and unreal.” She said, scrunching her eyes closed. They snapped open when she felt a hand at her arm, stroking upwards.

Her eyes met his face, and he looked lost in the touch of her skin. She felt that ball of nervousness squeeze tighter at his touch, and an embarrassing blush form at her cheeks.

“You can’t be real.” She told him again.

His eyes met hers.

“Neither can you.” he said, quietly.

“I’m not a mythical creature.” She replied.

“Oh, but you are to me.” 

Her mouth opened slightly before she could stop it, and he reached for her and kissed her again. 

This time was different than before. Where she hadn’t moved through shock last time, this time she didn’t move for more confusing reasons. She relished the feeling of his lips against hers in a passionate whisper. When he nipped at her lower lip, an embarrassing sound escaped her throat, and she felt his arms come around her once more.  
He slanted his lips against hers in a maddening way, and she was lost.

He dragged his head back from hers, and when she opened her eyes, he was peering down at her in wonder and amazement.

“You taste the same.” He said.

“The same as what?” She asked, her voice heavy and unlike she had ever heard it before.

“The same as her.” 

He let go of her again.

“You look the same, you taste the same, you feel the same and yet you have no memory of me. Tell me, what was your first memory, dearie?”

“That’s a little personal!” she argued.

“So is kissing someone you see as a stranger, but you had no argument against that.”

“You kissed me!” she shouted at him.

“And you kissed back. Beautifully, I must add. But I digress. What was your first memory?”

She glared at him. He glared back.

“Falling from my grandfather’s front porch when I was two.” She said after a little thought.

“And Elizabeth’s was the same.”

“Who is this Elizabeth? You mentioned her before we…well, before you...”

“Before we kissed. Yes. Well, you see, a long time ago I was in love, if you could believe it. And the woman I loved…she loved me back. But when you are as old and as powerful as I am, you make a few enemies over time. She was taken from me. And she died.”

“I’m…I’m so sorry.” She told him, genuinely. 

“Well, you may feel that now. But you see, that woman was my true love. When I lost her, I went on a bit of a rampage, you see. Losing people has never been good for me nor the people around me. So people from my land simply sent me to another one to be rid of me. Foolish people, really. The seals they placed on me did not last when I arrived here, and my rage continued.”

Belle felt suddenly afraid.

“What has this got to do with Elizabeth? Or me, for that matter?” She asked.

“Patience, dearie. You see, the seals did not work because the magic was specific to my land. When I arrived here, a group of priests found me. They bound me while they worked out how to stop me for good. In my moments of clarity, I mourned for my lost love. I wished to be destroyed as much as they did. I spoke about her, and they came up with a plan. While this is often referred to as a land without magic, there is magic in some places and things. They found some, and used it. They bound me to sleep until I was called for, but called for by someone specific. This is where you come in, dearie.”

“Someone specific? Who?” she asked

She felt cold when he smiled wickedly.

“An impossibility. It was why they did it. So I would never awaken.”

“Who?” she demanded, though somewhere in her she knew the answer.

His face grew serious.

“My true love. And it appears I awoke when you called upon me.”


	3. Hard Truths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this is late. If its any consolation, I did have a reason. My grandmother died and then Christmas happened and everything has been busy and bleh. I told myself i;d publish before 2015, so it's 4am and here's a chapter. Tada! Enjoy!

"That's impossible. If what you were saying is true, that is." Belle said. "I don't even know how that would begin to be possible!"

"Well, whatever reason, here I am, and there you are. And you were the one who summoned me, dearie." Rumplestiltsken replied, grabbing her wrist and running his thumb over her pulse point. She wrestled her arm away with a look of confusion and disgust.

"I don't care who you are, or who you think I am, I do not like being touched without permission!" She warned, her voice low and promising.

"I don't recall that problem being there before, sweetheart." he said, his smile devilish and toothy. Her stomach turned.

"You caught me by surprise. It is not something that will be happening again." She said. "And I'm still not sure I believe you. There could be all manner of smoke and mirrors here used to trick me and fool me into believing you. Prank or no prank, I will not blindly believe any man who just appears before me."

"I am not just any man, and you know it. And if it was surprise, you wouldn't have kissed me back." He sneered down at her. She scowled back.

"Even if I did kiss you back, it's something I wish I could go back in time and-"

"Do again?" He butted in.

"And stop from happening!" She spluttered, her face a picture of redness.

"Why do you wish to ignore this? Ignore the thing that we obviously have between us?"

"Because!" Belle exclaimed. "There's nothing there! No magic spells or true love, nothing! It just isn't possible! It's a trick!"

"It is not a trick." He reiterated, calmly.

"Prove it!" She shouted.

He grabbed her shoulders, and a dark came over like a cloak around them, before being swiftly ripped away. She gasped, and nearly stumbled back, if it wasn't for his strong arms. They were in the castle ruins.

The ruins had always beckoned to her. High on a mountaintop, only accessible by a steep climb. The architecture was gorgeous, or it would have been if it wasn't for the hundreds of years without an owner. Times had been hard for the village. The priests who owned the castle left no descendants, and sometimes all they could do was go into the castle to steal the treasures that lay inside. They were at the top of the castle, stood on a floor that she didn't dare to move from, staring at the space where a huge, circular window should have been. She had always wanted to come here. Had he known? 

A wind roared through the ruins, strong and freezing cold. He clasped her to him.

"I'm afraid." She admitted.

"I am too." He replied.

The dark swallowed them again, and they were back in her room again. The silence wrapped around them, and the air grew icy and uncomfortable as they stood in place and tried not to look at each other. Rumplestiltsken's hands eventually left her shoulders, and she felt a little strange at the cold feeling she felt on her shoulders where his hands had been. The warmth that had been there between his skin and hers had vanished, leaving her only with the memory it had been there as proof of it at all. She knew she could ask him to touch her again to feel that pleasant warmth, but that would only encourage something she did not want to invite. She crossed the room and fumbled with the wine bottle and her cast until he came over to help her. He poured her glass for her, and passed it into her waiting hand like a known and practised ritual. It was certainly the tellings of a gentleman, to say the least. 

"I hate not knowing things." Rumplestiltsken said.

She looked up at him, and found his staring at the wall ahead of her, his expression unreadable. She knew none of his tells, nor any of the things people who had known each other a while knew to understand how the other was feeling. She knew nothing about him, not a birthday or a favourite food or how old he was. Tea or coffee, left side or right, nervous ticks or fake smiles. She knew nothing about him, and he knew nothing about her, and yet there was this huge link between them that neither of them could explain.

"Could you be wrong? Perhaps the priests only said those things to scare you." She suggested.

He smiled wryly back at her. "They knew I wished to die to be with her. The only thing they could grant me was sleep. I do not blame them. I could not control myself or the evil urges that spurred me and my magic. The only lucid moments I had held moments of her, and the pain those memories gave me made me openly weep for the first time in centuries. I thank them. They would not want me to suffer again if I could not have her."

He stared at her like she was a puzzle to solve and half of the pieces were missing. There was annoyance, irritation and a bit of self loathing all there, and she was surprised she could spot them all. But while she might not know his birthday or his nervous tics, she could recognise self hatred in anyone's eyes. 

"I'm not her...Rumplestiltsken." She said, his name feeling strangely foreign on her tongue after so long saying it.

"No." He said. 

He disappeared in a plume of smoke to destinations unknown. She stared at the spot he had been in a second ago, and tried to wrap her mind around what was happening. She looked around the room that had seemed so normal a short time ago. And it had been short. She looked at the clock that hung on the wall. Half an hour had passed since she had inadvertently summoned Rumplestiltsken. The dagger still lay on the floor from where she had dropped it before. Her lips were still swollen from his kiss, and her shoulders stung from where he had gripped them. She felt embarrassed to admit that the kisses had stirred something inside her that was creeping to the surface now even thinking about it. Something red hot and innapropriate given the circumstances. Just thinking about it was ridiculous. Fantasising about the subject of her PhD!

She wondered when the shock would leave her, and she would be aware that a magical man had teleported her on top of a mountain to the place where a group of priests had cursed him to sleep. Rumplestiltsken had been her obsession, and now she had met him. More than met him, really. This was no starstruck celebrity encounter, or even a meeting she had fantasised about, because she had never thought he would be real. The evidence was here, or had been, and was undeniable and irrefutable. She felt numb. She didn't know how to feel, or what to think. Where did they go from here? What did they do? Was she truly his love? She had just been presented with proof that magic existed, and she still denied in her mind the possibility that she was. Was anything possible now? Reincarnation? The afterlife? If she was his love risen from the grave, did that mean that heaven did not exist? Or if it did, why was her soul not there? 

She was sure she was not this Elizabeth. Not his true love. There had to be a better explanation. There had to be a trick. A test. A curse, even, if magic existed. She refused to be bound by a destiny of being the Dark One's true love, or the reincarnation of some poor fallen damsel. Belle would not fall. She would stand. She would find out the truth.

She tipped the remainder of the glass (which was no small amount) back into her waiting mouth without savouring the taste or even stopping to breathe. It was late and she should be sleeping, not thinking about magic and teleportation and true love's kiss. She tried to be normal. Act normal. The dagger was put back in its case, she brushed her hair and somehow got her short pink nightgown over her cast. She tucked herself up into the plushy nest of her bed, and tried to sleep.

The moonlight shone against her torso through the slither where the curtains wouldn't close properly. She wondered what the proper time to call a centuries old, all powerful, potential old flame would be. She laughed in the darkness and fell asleep.

***

Her front door splintered with a booming sound, and Belle shot up in bed in a daze.

"Dr French! A pleasure to see you!" A voice called out behind a row of men in balaclavas.

Regina Mills sidestepped around someone. Her mink coat stuck out against the row of black tactical vests behind her. Her updo and makeup were perfect, and it looked like she had not lifted a finger. 

"I wish i had gotten to you sooner, but you appear to have slipped away from me, Belle." 

She snapped her fingers and someone seized the case. She shot up and impulsively tried to reach the person, but was shoved down again by another. Regina rounded the bed, chuckling softly.

"Oh dear, not so fast. That's not going to happen. I have far more power than you can imagine. And I didn't have to use a drop!" She said, taking off a glove slowly. "I never hated you. You were a worthy rival and it was interesting being around someone who had no idea the sheer magnitude of their existence. Unfortunately, I can't leave you. Youre far too valuable."

She lifted a palm, crackling with magenta sparks. 

"This wont hurt. I promise."

The hand came on her shoulder. Regina wasn't lying, it didn't hurt. She felt like she was floating down, into warm honey in the darkness her magic had brought.


	4. Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Regina is a total ham. This seems to be how she wants to be written in this story so I rolled with it. SORRY it's so late. i started a new job (I was fired from my old one for getting sick!) and have been stupidly tired and unmotivated when I haven't been working. I've basically been spending my free time listening to soundtrack music and reading bad smut manga. 
> 
> Happy reading, in any case! This chapter answers some burning questions, I think!

Belle awoke groaning at the pain of her wrist. Her vision was blurry, and she struggled to make sense of what was going on around her. She was in what looked to be some sort of old isolation room. The door in front of her was thick, metal and an off mint green, with missing flecks of paint and a rusty frame to the small opening in the top. It was dark, save for a couple of dingy lights around, and the ground felt damp underneath where she lay in a heap. She had no idea where she was, who was outside (if there was anybody), how long shed been out for, or why she was there. She struggled to rise, but the sedative magic still taking its toll on her body. 

Magic. 

The realisation that what had happened wasn’t a dream screamed from the very fact she was in this room. Regina had magic. And for whatever reason, she had put her in here. All sorts of questions sprang to her mind. Why did she have magic? Was she born with it? Was she like the dark one? Did they come from the same land? Did she even have a real doctorate? But most importantly, what did she want with the dagger so badly in the first place? Thinking about it there on the damp floor, with her brain rushing at a million miles an hour, the pieces seemed to come together in her mind. Regina had been obsessed with finding the dagger, but she must have known about its true origins and power. It was the only explanation for it.

But why was she there then? What did Regina need with her? The only reason Rumpelstiltskin had appeared before her was because she had called his name and awoken him. And he was only interested in her because she resembled his lost love. But she didn’t even know if it was only resemblance anymore. He had presented the facts to her in the clear light of day, and it would be impossible for some totally random stranger to have the power to wake him up, even if she had the same face. That is, if she chose to believe him about the curse. But she did, and that fact astonished her. She had an affection for him, but she had no idea where it had come from in such a short amount of time. Maybe it had grown from the look of longing in his eyes, or the feeling when he kissed her, like every part of her wanted to be beside every part of him for as long as they could be together. 

But maybe it was fate. Maybe she was Elizabeth, and the life she had lived in the last twenty nine years meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. Suddenly, she had no idea who she was anymore.

She heard footsteps outside, and before she could react (not that there was much she could have done anyway) the door had creaked open, and Regina stood there, looking immaculate and very pleased with herself. Her pantsuit was crisp, and she could smell her perfume from where she sat. She looked as clean as Belle was dirty. And she held the dagger in her gloved hand.

“Nice to see you, Dr. French.” She said, with a smile on her blood painted lips.

“I would like to say the same, but I’d be lying if I did.” Belle replied with a scowl. Regina laughed at this.

“Oh sweet thing, you wouldn’t be talking to me like that if you had any idea of the absolute mess you’re in, or if you knew who I was.”

“Well tell me and I can act appropriately, then.” Belle said, stubbornly.

“Temper, temper. That mouth could get you into a lot of trouble where I’m from.”

“And that is?”

“The Enchanted Forest, of course? Or didn’t your little imp get to that part yet?” she smirked. “You’re from there, too, sweetheart.”

“I’m not. I was born in Australia. I lived there for eighteen years and-”

“Came over to Boston to go to college, earned your doctorate, blah blah blah. Of course that’s this lifetime. You died where I am from. By my hand.”

Belle’s eyes widened. The information she was being told was too much all at once.

“You died, and when you did, I took your mortal soul for my own uses. Hearts control the living, but life? Well, that is controlled by the soul. You were reborn when I was banished here.”

“Why?”

“Why? I knew by killing you Rumpelstiltskin would fly into a rage the likes of which would never be forgiven. I needed to get rid of his influence over the kingdom. He ruined my plans countless times But when I was banished, I needed his power to get back to where I belong. So I released your soul into this world, waited for eighteen years, and when you came to Boston I planted the thought into your head about the dagger, and about adventure and mystery and wonder. You were a fool in the Enchanted Forest and you were a fool here. You played right into my trap. The only reason you are alive is because I needed you to be!”

Belle was pale. Her eyes saw Regina in all of her ugliness at once, with the secrets to her very existence spilling out of her mouth. 

“This can’t be true. You have no proof.” She said, meekly.

“I don’t need to prove anything to you.” Regina said.

She swept out, and the door was closed.

“Get me the dagger.” She told a man waiting in the corridor. “I want to get out of this place as soon as I can.”

“Your Highness, might I ask why you told the girl the truth?” he asked her. She shrugged.

“I might as well give her something to mull over until I kill her.”  
~~~  
Rumpelstiltskin had been camped out in the remains of the castle he had been imprisoned in all those years ago, remembering. The ghosts of the past seemed to whisper into his ear as he walked the halls. All of the vile insults and heaving sobs and all of the pretty words designed to calm him. The magic of the place still hung in the air like a fog. The priests had interested him then with their ways, but he was too consumed by sorrow and rage to dwell upon it them. Now that he thought about it, he wondered how they go the access to the magical powers they used to bind him. People in the Enchanted Forest had tried to do so in the past, and the fact that the priests had been able to do so was something that was very interesting.

He was being called, he noticed, suddenly. His heart lifted. Perhaps the mystery of Belle’s existence could be solved, and they could be happy together as he and Elizabeth once were. They were making steps forward if she was calling him. Perhaps she had started to grow some sentiment towards him. Or maybe it was curiosity. Either way, it was an opening. Not that he could have denied the dagger’s influence anyway. She would be a replacement, nothing more, unfortunately. Even if she had the same face, she was different. She was not his Elizabeth and never could be. But that would not stop him from possessing her.

He disappeared with a puff of smoke, but was surprise when the call of the dagger led him to a dingy corridor in what appeared to be an abandoned hospital.

“Belle? Where are you?” He called.

“Well isn’t that sweet?” he heard a familiar voice say behind him. He turned to see none other than Her Royal Highness Queen Regina Mills stepping out from the darkness of an alcove. “True lovers reunited at last. Pity things don’t work out that way.”

“You.” He said, and surged forward. 

She was a step ahead of him, however, and held the dagger out in front of her and commanded him to stop. He was powerless to do otherwise, and his legs felt like lead suddenly. He gnashed his teeth at her.

“Where is she? Where have you taken her?” He demanded.

“She’s safe. For now. She’s my bargaining chip.”

“Why do you need a bargaining chip if you have the dagger?” He demanded of her.

“So that you do not go behind my back after this is done. Send me home, imp. You fulfil this one request, and I will let her live. If you fail, you will die. Do we understand each other?”

“Send you home? Dear, this is a land without magic. No such way exists.”

“There is in the priest’s castle.” Regina told him. “There is a bean there.”

“And why do you not go up there to retrieve it yourself, dearie? Too afraid to let your shoes get wet?” He taunted with an aggressive snarl.

“It’s warded. Nobody can get past.”

Rumpelstiltskin frowned. How did he and Belle get up there in that case?

“And you think I can?” He asked.

“I know you’ll do anything to save your precious Elizabeth from a second death.”

With a scowl, he knew she was right. There was no other way to get her back.  
~~~  
Belle listened to the conversation from her cell. If what she feared was true, Regina must have been banished for some terrible reason. And what she felt in her heart was that it was. She felt an unmistakable surge of wrath when she thought about the vile woman. She had always disliked her, but the poison feeling in the pit of her stomach had been explained with the revelations of her past self.

She wanted to know why she had died. But there were more pressing matters at stake. If she was allowed to go back to the Enchanted Forest, surely people would suffer. And Belle would not have that. Not if she could do anything about it. She would have t be careful, she knew, but the only way of stopping this was to get the dagger back. She just had to hope that when Regina came to her again to taunt her (which she felt she would), that brute strength would overpower magic. More than anything else, she had to try.


End file.
